Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-06-25

lie pulled back the fn;tarlu. curtain N
his room W" i""kcd ia and saw Tuma>n
stretched out upon the bed sleeping ~
sweetly as a 2year-old child,
That's what ! call nerve " said the
Chicago man, and that's what like To
back"
l think il dawned on all of rs at that
time that the affair WAS no longer farce
We allowed the boy TO sleep until )
O'Clock, by which time we had succeeded
in finding n fencing master, and then we
aroused Tomaso, and all OF us went
round 10 the gymnast's apartments in
Acquila street We had discovered that
Tomaso had never held Il foil in his hand.
He was taught two thlngS--how 10 thrust
and how to parry. For an hour he exer-
cised there, and then we all drank coffee.
took two hacks and drove ont on the sea
road. l have never seen more thor
oughly self contained and well balanced
man IN my life than the young Cuban.
who sat by my side smoking cigarettes in
that beautiful drive in the early morning
There was a gentle breeze blowing in
from the sea, over which the suns rays
were dancing like network of diamonds,
and the few laborers we passed nodded
and smiled with the conventional cour-
tcSy of the children of the tropics
We Were five minutes late. for the 9th
ers We're there when we arrived The
duelist looked more CHASTITY by daylight
than he had the nignt before. but he
bowed pleasantly 10 Us all. | told his
seconds that Tomaso had had no expe-
rienCe with the sword but they shrugged
their shoulders careleSsly. and one of them
said something about the fortunes OF war
Ii was quite evident that they knew of
the ignorance of the boy. and that their
principal was also acquainted with the con
dition Of affairs. To tell the truth, this
was rather "A source Of satisfaction to me
for | did not believe the duelst would
butcher the young Cuban outright but
would probably exercise his skill in Civ
ing him some slight wound which would
satisfy the demands Of honor.
i was wrong. A quicker duel was never
fought. The men faced each other and
stood for moment with their swords
crossed Then the duelst. who. by the
way, was as agile and firm swoGdsman
as j ever saw. made a conventional thrust
1T the boy. Tomaso parried il and sprang
forward again precisely as he had done in
the attack after the theatre. His teeth
Were set and his eyes cleaned His on
SiauSll WAS so unexpected anu nerCe that
his antagonist threw his sword too high
for the parry, and the point Of Tomasos
sword swept under il with flash like
lightning and laid open the cheek of the
duelist straight down 10 the neck. Then
the boy bounded back and stood with the
blade of his sword clasped in his left hand
staring at his astounded FOE. IL WAS the
quickest thing l ever saw. The wound
was Il disiiguring one, but by no means
dangerous. The presence OF blood salts
fed the honor that had been So Violently
outraged that night There WAS con
ventional hand shaking and n moment
later We were rolling back 10 town j
don think We had been ont Of the car
rlage sin minutes. The anna cement of the
duelist was 81 complete that | doubt if
he realizes 10 this day what had occurred. I
and the hilarity of the three Anglo SaxouS ,
who had made up the party OF the Young
Cuban extended far into the following
night. The ignorance of Tomaso had
saved him, for no man with Il knowledge |
of fencing would have exposed himself a |
he did in that furious onslaugh t-Blakely I
Hall in New York World